


Your Soul is Wagging

by pipisafoat



Series: Abby Lyman [8]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Disabled Character, Gen, POV Dog, POV First Person, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Service Animals, Service Dogs, collie - Freeform, invisible disabilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 17:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13171848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipisafoat/pseuds/pipisafoat
Summary: It took two years of training for me to be able to meet my human, but I knew he was meant for me the moment I sniffed his butt.





	Your Soul is Wagging

It took two years of training for me to be able to meet my human, but I knew he was meant for me the moment I sniffed his butt. I heard him talking in Human to the people who brought him into the room, but his voice was pleasant - most of the other people I’ve met properly have sounded angry afterward. As soon as I was done sniffing, I came to his left side and sat down, showing off my ‘ready’ position for him,

“Abby,” I hear, and I turn my head toward the human speaking. “Say hi to Josh.”

My human bends himself to my level - He’s called Josh! He offers his hand to me like a silly human who doesn’t understand the basics of life. I’ve already sniffed his butt; I don’t need to smell his hand, too. I lick it instead, wagging enthusiastically. He moves his face in the way that I’ve learned means his soul is wagging at me. He sets his hand on my head and strokes down my fur in a way that makes me wag back at him.

“Hi, Abby,” Josh says before spouting a long stream of Human that I can’t understand even when I tip my head sideways. After a minute or two, he falls silent, and I lean forward to lick his hand again in response to whatever he said. He’s my person, and that means I support him even when I don’t understand him. He gives me that soul-wagging expression before standing again. Humans - I don’t understand how they get through life using only half of their legs!

As he and my trainers say things to each other in Human, I try to think of what I can do to make a good impression. I’ve learned a lot from my trainers, and some of it will take time with my Josh to be able to do well for him, but there’s still a lot…. A-ha! I can start by demonstrating ‘ready’ position again, and from there, we’ll see what he wants.

“Abby, heel,” my Josh tells me. I stay sitting until he lifts one of his legs to take a human step, then I stand up and follow him, careful to keep myself in the same position to him. When he turns, I turn, adjusting my speed to stay with him, and when he stops, I sit beside him in the ready position.

After a few minutes of Human chatter, one of my trainers looks down at me. “Abby, heel,” Marina says. I look to my Josh, checking to see if he needs me or if I should go with her. He strokes my head and calls me a good girl, so I stay with him.

The humans chat again, and I hear many of my commands fly through the air. Nobody looks at me when they say them, and every now and then my Josh strokes my head and gives me the soul-wagging look, so I stay put at his side. Humans love to use command words as they talk even when they aren’t commanding. It’s just another weird quirk you have to accept if you want to adopt one of them.

“Freedom,” my Josh says, looking straight at me. I acknowledge my release command by trotting across the room toward the toy bucket. The humans are quiet, probably watching, as I dig through the container to find my favorite toy and the one that carries the most smells to enjoy - a tennis ball! I bring it to my Josh and drop it on his hind paws, looking up at him expectantly. He doesn’t hesitate to pick up the ball with one of his front paws - I wish sometimes that my front paws could bend like that - and toss it gently across the room. It’s more fun when it bounces off the walls in unexpected directions, but I’m sure I can train my Josh to do that. I fly after it regardless and bring it back to drop on his hind paws again. This time, my Josh picks it up but doesn’t throw it.

“Abby, heel,” Marina commands again. I look up to my Josh for guidance, hoping he’ll give me a different command so I can stay with him.

“Go,” he tells me disappointingly, pointing at Marina. I walk slowly to her, glancing back at my Josh as I sit in the ready position at Marina’s side.

“Focus,” she commands, and I turn my attention reluctantly away from my Josh and onto Marina. “Good. Heel.”

We start simply enough, walking forward and backward together, my eyes locked on her face from the focus command. I have to use my peripheral vision to watch her paws and keep our movements smooth and seamless together. As she speeds up and starts to add in other movements, I recognize that we’re doing what the humans call (but don’t command) ‘dance’ and realize that we’re putting on a show for my Josh, showing him how good I am at heeling. Turns become more abrupt, we start to sidestep in both directions, and a couple of times our turns are more like whirling in a complete circle with my tail strung out behind us like a long-haired flag. All of a sudden, just after one of these whirling turns, Marina commands, “Between,” and freezes where she is. I duck back one step and dart between her legs, freezing at alert.

“Oh, good girl,” Marina says, rubbing my head, but I don’t move. My eyes have left hers and are locked on my Josh. I can’t tell what his face means, but I know he’s happy, too. “Okay, freedom.”

I go straight to my Josh and sit right in front of him, so close I have to bend my neck almost uncomfortably to watch his face. His expression changes from confusing-but-happy back into his soul wagging through his face, so I match him by wagging myself, mouth open as I pant from the sudden intense exercise. Suddenly, I remember the ball and take a good sniff - it’s still in his hand! I shift my head to stare at it. He makes the noise that also means his soul is wagging when he tosses the wonderful ball across the room. This time, it ricochets delightfully off the walls at the corner of the room. I chase it down as the humans start talking again. My Josh is talking, too, but he takes the ball each time I offer it to him from my mouth instead of dropping it on his paws, and he continues to throw it in fun ways.

“Abby, vest,” he commands one time that he takes the ball from me. I want to entice him to keep playing, but I want even more to show him how good I am, how helpful I can be for him. I hurry across the room and nudge the leash out of my way with my nose until I can get a hold on the handle of my vest. It’s really quite awkward to carry because the straps that hold it on me dangle to the floor when it’s in my mouth, but I turn my body to the side and make sure to lift each of my paws higher than usual as I return to the group of humans.

“Good girl,” my Josh praises, and I wag energetically. “Release.” I drop my vest into his hand, but it slips from his grip to the ground. Before he can bend his awkward human body, I grab the handle again and lift it up for him. “Good. Stay.” He folds his back legs until he’s at my level, and I eye the position carefully. I don’t want my human hurting himself, and that would certainly hurt me, but I’ve seen other humans do it, so maybe it’s okay for them. My Josh sets my vest on my back, and I turn my attention to the other humans as they speak to him. I assume they’re telling him how to fasten it, because his first attempt has the straps going uncomfortably wrong and his second ensnares my hair painfully enough that I dance out of his reach before returning shamefaced. He gets it right eventually, though, and he even thinks to smooth my long hair under every part of the vest so it’s most comfortable for me. My Josh and I are going to have a good time taking care of each other, I believe.

“Leash,” he tells me, and I trot back over to my gear pile to retrieve it. I get a hold of it on a wrapping of leather near the part that attaches to me before returning to the group of humans. I was taught to always grab it there, unless I couldn’t find there; then I should grab a place that they wrapped with leather near where the human holds. My Josh makes the wagging soul face as he takes a hold of the clip. “Release.” As soon as I hear the click of the leash connecting to my vest, I decide to take some initiative and fetch the human end for him, depositing it neatly in his hand as he lets out the wagging soul sound.

There are still several humans making their human sounds, but Josh and I follow Marina out of the room, and she and I spend the next six days teaching my Josh all of my commands and helping me learn him so I can alert his extremes and respond to his needs.


End file.
